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continued opposition of the Richmond Enquirer to his political advancement, and the grounds upon which that opposition had been based, said, that though his motives in voting for Mr. Adams, in the Congress of 1824–’5, were as pure as it was possible for them to have been, and though, were the election to come over again, he would have to vote precisely as he had done on that occasion, yet that, after the painful experience which he had had of the mischievous effects growing out of his acceptance under Mr. Adams of the Department of State, nothing could induce him to receive any official appointment at his hands., He confessed that this was a most. serious official blunder, and had greatly impaired his public usefulness.

Linn Boyd, former speaker of the House of Representatives, called upon me one morning during the tempestuous session of 1850, and informed me that he had been for many years a bitter political adversary of Mr. Clay, and that he had, for a series of years, pressed with great earnestness the famous charge of bargain and intrigue against him connected with the election of Mr. Adams; declared that he had been greatly struck with Mr. Clay's patriotic course in the advocacy of the compromise measures, and asked that I would call upon that gentleman and request on his behalf a face to face interview, that he might have an opportunity of making the amende honorable as to past unkindnesses. I readily undertook the mission propounded, and very soon had the gratification of witnessing a thorough reconcilement between them. Several years after Mr. Clay's decease, I was called upon by Boyd, when very hotly pressed in a

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political canvass in which he was then engaged in the State of Kentucky, to bear written testimony to the transaction just related, which of course I could not refuse to do.

Of Mr. Webster I hesitate to speak. He was so much superior in power of thought, in grandeur of conception, in genuine logical power, in condensed vigor of expres sion, in brilliancy of fancy, in sprightly and amiable facetiousness, in the richest stores of well-digested knowledge, whether scholastic, scientific, or practical, to any other public man that I have had the fortune to know, or that I have ever heard described, that I have no words in which to express my admiration of him. I never heard him talk at his own table, where, though the most modest of men, at the instance of cherished friends, he sometimes conversed freely, that I did not sigh for the presence of a reporter to take down the golden words that came with such a delightful impressiveness from his lips. I never heard him speak in the Senate on any occasion whatever, when every sentence which he uttered was not fit to be put in print. Who has ever read a paragraph of his masterly composition and desired to change a syllable? Then his heart was so kind, his manners were so cordial, his aspect and demeanor so marked with touching simplicity and unartificial dignity, that, had he not spoken a word, he must yet have been loved and venerated. The last time that I beheld this remarkable person was on an occasion which no man that witnessed it can ever forget. On the morning previous to my taking leave of the national Senate to return to my own home in Mississippi, to buffet billows with which I was little able to contend, I chanced to be present at a banqueting scene, to which,

having been long since depictured by others, I may now for a moment recur. In a large room in the lower story of Brown's Hotel, in Washington, a large convivial company was assembled. Most of the cabinet functionaries of Mr. Fillmore were present, a considerable proportion of the ministers from foreign countries in attendance upon the government, and some six or eight of the members of Congress then in session.

The dinner was capital, the wine was most select, the banqueters apparently most happy. Having to leave the city in the cars next morning, and not having yet completed my preparations for the journey, I rose up while my social companions were still absorbed in the' delightful interchange of thought and sentiment, and not wishing to disturb the scene, made an effort to steal away. I soon found this to be impossible. Whether what follows was the result of previous arrangement I know not, nor have I ever thought it needful to inquire; but this is precisely what did in point of fact occur: Mr. Webster, rising, and followed by the rest of the company, approached me as I was retiring, and presently addressed me, in the name of those present, an affectionate valedictory, such as he who hears can never forget. He spoke for some five or ten minutes in prose, referring to the various interesting public scenes which had recently occurred, and presently, without confusion or hesitation, he adopted the language of poetry, and poured forth some twenty or thirty couplets, which either Pope or Dryden, Byron or Moore, might have envied, all perfectly germain to the topics upon which he had been descanting, and evidently improvised at the moment, and con

"DANIEL WEBSTER STILL LIVES."

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cluded by wishing me, in the name of all, an affectionate farewell. It has been published, years ago, that I was dumbfounded by this extraordinary address. I shall not say whether this is altogether true or not; but certainly, if I uttered any thing in response, it is all now lost to my memory in the overwhelming recollection of this most stupendous display of genius on the part of the wonderful personage of whom I have been speaking. "Daniel Webster still lives," and ever will continue to live, in the admiration and affection of the wise, the patriotic, and the virtuous!!

How surprised and indignant must the intelligent and magnanimous of other generations inevitably be on learning, as they will unfortunately do, that even such a man as this, compounded as he was of all the nobler and more gracious elements of our nature, was not permitted to escape the rough and heartless assaults of cold-blooded and mercenary calumniators when living, nor, even after death, suffered to remain quietly inurned, without being subjected to the objurgatory malevolence of some who knew him familiarly while still lingering in the realms of mortality, and whose most pleasant duty it should have been to keep his august and sacred name forever bright and untarnished, and continually to scatter laurels of unfading honor over and around that sequestered tomb which holds all that now remains of the most grandly and variously gifted man that has ever yet borne the proud name of American!

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CHAPTER XI.

Excited Struggle in Congress over the Kansas-Nebraska Bill.-Manly but ineffectual Opposition to that Bill in Congress.-Regret expressed at the Disappearance from the public Scene of Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster, and Mr. Calhoun.-Confident Opinion expressed as to what would have been Mr. Calhoun's Course had he survived up to our Times.-Fearful awakening of sectional Excitement both in the South and in the North under the Influence of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill.-Multiplied Scenes of Blood and Violence in the Territory of Kansas.-Mr. Pierce and his Cabinet lose the Confidence of all Men of true Nationality of Sentiment. -Mr. Pierce defeated in the Cincinnati Democratic Convention by Mr. Buchanan, who is afterward elected to the Presidency by a plurality Vote over Fremont and Fillmore.-Mr. Buchanan delivers an Inaugural Address as President, replete with national Sentiment, which attracts to him the Support of the American Party, and his Administration grows overwhelmingly popular. He afterward treacherously violates all his Promises to the Country under the Threats of Southern Secession Leaders, and his Administration suddenly becomes both odious and contemptible.-The Democratic Party of the North completely crushed and broken down by the fatal Lecompton Issue, and the way surely paved for the Election of a Republican President in 1860.-Review of the State of Parties at that Period.-Some Notice of the American Party and its particular Tenets.-Great Mistake of the Southern People in not yielding their Support to Mr. Fillmore in 1856.-Some Notice of the Republican Candidates for President and Vice-President in 1856, and of certain curious Scenes which took place during the short period of General Fremont's official Connection with that Body. -Sketch of General Baker, one of the earliest Victims of the War, and a recital of certain romantic Occurrences connected with his Residence in California and Oregon.—Signal Triumph of his extraordinary oratorical Powers over popular Excitement and Prejudice.

So was it with our country in the latter part of Mr.

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